The Stuff They Don't Write About In Romance Novels

Jamie and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday. Six years ago, I became a Mrs. and moved into a double wide infested with mice and bad water.

We sure have come a long way. Minus the bad water part, we're pretty much a picture of the American dream. We live on a three acre lot with a big pond in the back, we have a nice house, two dogs, a car that breaks down a lot, we're infertile. You know, the stuff dreams are made of.

In all seriousness though, every single thing could be taken away from us and as long as we still had each other and the love of our Savior, it wouldn't matter at all.

So how did we celebrate? Well thanks for asking.

We went out on Saturday night to the movies. We chose a matinee because well, the price of going to an evening movie is $8.00. And I would rather spend $8.00 on a Starbucks drink. Or, you know, towards the electric bill. I do like air conditioning in the summer. Call me crazy.

We went to see Kung Fu Panda, you know the new animated movie. I think we were the only "couple" there. Animated panda's don't exaclty scream "Romantic Date Movie". But, it was a great movie. The best part about going to a kids movie at the matinee price is that there are in fact lots of kids there. Something funny would happen in the movie and those kids would start laughing and couldn't stop. And you know how little kids have some of the goofiest laughs. We would get so tickled just listening to all the laughing.

We decided to keep with the theme of the evening and have dinner afterwards at Asahi, a Japanese steakhouse in Jackson. It was a cozy little romantic dinner with me and Jamie and 8 other strangers. I wispered sweet nothings in Jamie's ear as the Japanese chef made fire rings and lava filled onions. It was such a great meal, but I have to say that my intestines were a little upset with me afterwards. They didn't seem to love the meal as much as I did.

Yesterday on our actual anniversary, we got up and went to church and then came home to spend a quiet evening alone. It was really great. Then we decided to bust out the board games.

Something you may not realize about me is that I am a little bit competitive. Not to the point where I almost throw the scrabble board for Jamie taking my spot where I might have played a 42 point word, no nothing like that. Or not to the point where I get so mad I could cry and then do. No, no. I'm not that bad. But, just a little bitty twinge of the "I like to wins".

We played two games. A game of speed scrabble (we made this up) and a quick little game of Trivial Pursuit. Because those questions are SO easy. I don't know who those people were trying to fool with their questions. Of course I know what world leader decided in 1987 to take a year sabbatical and travel the world over in search of the meaning of life. Who doesn't know that? Or what NHL team had to change their logo because the fans thought it was short for "habitants". I mean EVERYONE knows those things. We really even shouldn't play that game. It just puffs us up with all the knowledge.

After game fest '08, we decided to go enjoy the evening out on the dock. Jamie brought our fishing poles out. It must have been the perfect time of evening and we were using the perfect bait because we caught a ton of fish. We would just cast and catch. It was a lot of fun until I caught a fish and it threw up on me.

Nothing says romantic anniversary evening like fish throw up.

It was all over my shirt, sunglasses and face. It was awesome. Jamie said in all his years of catching fish, he had never witnessed a fish throwing up. I'm so glad he finally got to experience that. That's just the kind of wife I am. So selfless.

And to top off the romantic anniversary weekend, Jamie's dad brought home a paddle boat. So now we can get out in the pond and paddle around and catch fish. This was just my thought when I was walking down the aisle six years ago.

After we came back inside we cooked a frozen pizza, got in bed and watched a movie. Jamie fell asleep half way through it and I had to watch the last half straining to hear through all the snoring. This really is what dreams are made of.

Please feel free to call me to plan your next romantic getaway.

And Jamie, you know I wouldn't have it any other way. I love you! Happy Anniversary!